WOC pitch fest details and links

Click HERE to go directly to the pitch forums where agents are posting their critiques (and some requests).  You can learn a lot about what works and doesn't work in a query. 

DON'T POST IN THE COMMENTS.  Just read and learn.

If you want to vote (which I think is done via email, also not in the comments) then you need to read THIS and then you need to register HERE.

If you want to read our pitch for THE TEXT MESSAGE, our completed YA novel you can go HERE.  (Again, don't comment on the WOC forums.  If you want to vote, you have to go through the correct channels.  See above.)

(So far, my favorite pitch is for TAYLOR-MADE, a YA novel under Kathleen Rushall's list. I haven't read even close to all the pitches, but this one made me feel like I was reading the back of a book and wanted to be holding it so I could dive inside!-Christy)

Enjoy!  The forums and comments and voting will be going on all week until Friday.

Keep your fingers crossed for us. 

:D

We're in!

The folks at Writeoncon decided to host a mid-winter pitch fest.  ericaandchristy submitted their finished pitch for their co-written novel--AND GOT IN! 

What does that mean? 

Well, it means we're one of 300 or so lucky pitchers who got selected for the pitch fest this upcoming Monday through Wednesday. 

Further, it means that our pitch (which will be posted anonymously) will be read by agents, book bloggers and YOU!  It will collect votes (we hope) and comments and critiques to help us out now that we're ready to QUERY the thing!  Woot! 

So, once we know the number our query has been assigned, we'll let you know so you can check it out and let us know what YOU think! If you like it, we hope you'll honor it with a vote. 

For even more info, please click on the button above and read it directly from the WOC website.

We'll keep you posted here, via twitter and Facebook where the pitch fest is at and how we're doing in it.

Until then, HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

erica and christy are. . .Back From the Future

Go here to visit Nicki Elson's blog, one of the hosts of this blogfest/hop!

(See the linky below to visit other participants' blogs.)

You're up before dawn on a Saturday when the doorbell rings. You haven't brewed your coffee so you wonder if you imagined the sound. Plonking the half-filled carafe in the sink, you go to the front door and cautiously swing it open. No one there. As you cast your eyes to the ground, you see a parcel addressed to you ... from you.

You scoop it up and haul it inside, sensing something legitimate despite the extreme oddness of the situation. Carefully, you pry it open. Inside is a shoebox -- sent from ten years in the future -- and it's filled with items you have sent yourself.

What's in it?

erica:

1. A bill from Harvard University for $250,000 - the cost of my older son's tuition

2. A bill from the jewelry store for the cost of 11 pairs of diamond earrings - one for each of my younger son's girlfriends

3 A torn-off cover of a book listing me as the author. On the back is a note in my handwriting that says "No cheating. Now go write it."

4. Pictures of my family and we're all happy, healthy, and having fun

5. Plane tickets and gift certificates for a 14-day vacation to Australia and New Zealand and a note saying "Bring your laptop. Trust me."

christy:

1. A copy of my future best-selling trilogy with a note:
"Read these.  You wrote them.  So don't feel bad doing what I'm about to tell you to do.  Type them up, send the attached query to agents.  Get published now.  Save yourself the dozen manuscripts that you'll just plop on a shelf.  Really, do you need more junk to dust?  Besides, you need the money.  Buy the camper you want now.  Enjoy the camping years while the kids are still young." 

2.  A bottle of really great aged wine.

3.  A copy of my diploma letting me know I will finally finish my final two credits and get my master's degree.  Oh, and the thesis I no longer need to write to get it.  (Phew.  Love that saved time and brain power!  Thanks, future me!)

4.  A picture of my future abs.  Cool, I really will lose that baby weight!  It just takes more than a year...or, wait, did I finally give up and get plastic surgery?  It's hard to tell.  Great pic!

5.  A key.

10 ways to be sure your editing won't get done (again tonight)

1. refresh your email, waiting for a messge from your blog partner/co-writer even though you know she is out for the evening

2.  read a blog re-capping The Bachelor even though you spent the previous night actually watching The Bachelor (Hey, at least the re-capped version was waaaaaay funnier and more entertaining!  srsly, check it out for yourself here.)

3.  check twitter even though you never write anything and you have no conversations with anybody on it

4.  daydream about the  new novel you will write once you can finally query the novel you are not editing

5.  read a blog post about how to begin a novel and start brainstorming ways to begin the novel you were daydreaming about  (so amazingly helpful!  you MUST read it NOW:  here.)

6.  click on a link to read about how to create well-rounded characters. stop to think about how these characters would want you to start out your new novel

7.  decide to create a new blog post even though you really have nothing to say other than to share how you are writing it only to keep from doing what you are supposed to be doing 


8.  wonder how you will finish the blog post and wonder further why you chose the number ten when clearly you have not really procrastinated that much...yet

9. (see 8)

10.  check the clock and wonder how long it will be before your eyes glaze over when it will be too late to open your acrobat.com acct to GET THE EDITING DONE, erm, started

(erica, really, if you're reading this, it's still relatively early and i'm going in right now.  i'll get lots done.  i hope you are having a fantastibulous time this evening.  i can't wait to email you tomorrow to tell you how i finished our edits.)

:) 

10 Reasons This Week. . .(nvm, we don't want to swear)

We, erica and christy, are not prone to violence. However (and truthfully, this is erica speaking) if even one person on this planet wishes for this week to repeat itself, well, you'll find us (okay, erica) resorting to this:

no cartoons were harmed in the making of this blog post

 

10. Last Saturday was my husband's nephew's wedding. My youngest son was the ring bearer. He woke up on Saturday with a 102-degree fever.

 

9. I hopped my kid up on Tylenol and we made our merry way to the wedding. Yep, mother-of-the-year here. (hey, at least I win Aunt-of-the-Year, right?)

 

8. My husband's on a pretty strict diet and I called the wedding-dinner-hall-thingy and asked them for an alternate meal. My husband *apparently* didn't want anyone to know about the diet, so he was PISSED when he found out I blabbed, even to strangers. Plus, his meal was very tiny compared to the rest of ours, which did nothing to make him happier. Umm, yeah.

 

I'll take it! er

 

7. I just blogged about his diet. Please don't tell him or he may never speak to me again. (but if you do, mention that I think he's doing awesome. because he never believes me when I say it!)

 

6. My youngest missed both Monday and Tuesday of school because of a 100-101.8 fever and cough.

 

5. On Monday, the aforementioned groom said he ended up in the ER due to a high fever and cough and had to get IV antibiotics. 

 

4. Tuesday brought a little bit of health to my family, so my husband and I left the kids with his parents and went to a poker tournament, where we both won seats to a tournament in Las Vegas in November. (don't cheer yet, trust me. . .)

 

I even got these once, which hardly ever happens

 

3. My oldest son woke up Wedneday morning with a sore throat and 100.4 degree fever. I left him with some Dayquil and ibuprofen and went to work because the poker tournament took until 10:30, so my kids slept and their grandparents' and I didn't know about his condition until 15 minutes before school started. Yep, mother-of-the-year right here!!

 

2. My teaching assistant's son took her son to the doctor the first morning he spiked a fever and the kid tested positive for Influenza A. My kids are on Day 7 (in case you're counting) and I'm still going with the "It's just a virus" defense. (for the record, they didn't give the other kid anything but cough medicine for the flu. trust me, my kids are on cough medicine. So. Much. Medicine.)

 

So - and I don't do this for sympathy, just for laughs and commiseration - the #1 reason this week sucked (brought to you in two parts):

 

1.5 On Wednesday, my husband and I sat down and discussed a plan for doing 2 vacations in the next year. One for us to Las Vegas next November (the seats we won gave us both a really great deal - mostly it will just cost us airfare) AND something we can do with our kids that would be better than usual. We figured if we save $50-75 per week from now until the middle of summer for one and mid-summer until November for the other, we could pull it off without much of a problem. SCORE!

 

not my family, but close!

 

1.0 On Friday, I found out the Head Start grant I have worked under for the past 9 years won't cover expenses this year (by no fault - or knowledge - of mine). Therefore I will have a $50-75 per week cut in my wages for the remainder of the school year.

simon is not formatting correctly. seems about right.

 

 

So, yeah, don't plan on asking Karma to give you a do-over on THIS week. That bi**ch hates me and I'm not afraid to slap her.

 

(this post softened by a nice smiley) :)

erica